INQUIRER Volume 6, Issue 8, August, 2003
, Long Island Secular
Humanists Box 119, Greenlawn, NY 11740, Email: LISecHum@aol.com.
A Thumbs Up Publication Editor: Gerald Dantone, Art Design: John R. Wilmarth Copyright
LISH 2000 (All articles in this newsletter may be reprinted by organizations affiliated
with the Council for Secular Humanism with a reciprocating reprinting agreement with LISH,
so long as the article is used in full and with complete crediting. Edited versions can be
used with written permission.) Visit LISH on the web: http://nyhumanist.org/lish.htm
LISH MEETING INFORMATION
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Visit LISH at http://nyhumanist.org/lish.htm
Table of Contents
1) Bush
Hearing from God
2) Letters
to the Editor
3a) The Film
Hollywood Is Afraid To Make: Heart of the Beholder
3b)
DJ Grothe Supports
“Beholder”
4a) The Roman
Catholic Church and Special Treatment
4b) Religious Freedom vs. Religious Privilege
5) Making
the Rounds with Norm
6) QUICKIES!
7) The
Weathers Report: It Had to be Said: Religion Is a Dangerous Thing - The Empty Box
8) Americans
Granted Privacy
9) Good
God! ID Just Won't Go Away!
10) From:
Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, The God Squad & Other Theists: Stonewalling Atheists:
11) The Bush
Administration: Caught In it Own Web of Lies?
SECULAR HUMANISM is the philosophy of life guided by reason and science, freed from
religious and secular dogmas, motivated by an appreciation of life and the lives of
others, seeking to reach goals of human happiness, freedom and understanding on this
earth, in this life.
BUSH HEARING FROM GOD
Gerry
Dantone
From Israeli newspaper Haaretz, June 25, 2003:
Negotiations between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and faction leaders from the
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular and Democratic Fronts reveal some of the factors at
play behind the scenes in the effort to achieve a “hudna.”
“Abbas opened the session after hearing scathing criticism from faction leaders for
his Aqaba speech in which he defined their activities as "terrorism." He
began with a broad review of his two meetings with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the
Aqaba summit…
He went on to explain his speech in Aqaba." We did not speak of our rights but
only of our commitments. Bush was impressed by that and mentioned the prisoners and
settlements in his speech." On the matter of the right of return, Abbas said
"that right appears in all the previous initiatives, and is not under discussion
now. Bush asked, if that's the case, why mention the settlements now, and I told him
the settlements are happening now. The Israelis use the excuse of natural growth and
I told them that according to U.S. statistics, 33 percent of settlements are empty.
We said the growth should happen westward, and not on our territory."
Abbas said that at Aqaba, Bush promised to speak with Sharon about the siege on
Arafat. He said nobody can speak to or pressure Sharon except the Americans.
According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al
Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and
now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will
act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.”
See http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=310788&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
If the above story is accurate, (it has been denied by the US) it confirms the worst
nightmares of the community of reason - Bush believes God is talking to him and telling
him what to do. When one sees the entire article one must note that the article does
NOT make a fuss over this particular revelation: The article did NOT set out to make Bush
seem like a religious fanatic; the God reference was made matter-of-factly, as if it were
no big deal. It was not an intentional hatchet job as far as we can tell.
Now, as we all know, God likes to play games on humans - he tells Osama bin Laden to kill
Americans and tells Bush to kill Osama for obeying God.
No longer is American foreign policy guided by evidence, reason, compassion or anything
that might make sense or be understandable to an rational person. No, now foreign
policy, according to this article, is determined by what an invisible being is whispering
in President Bush's ear. Note the Deity's concern for Bush's re-election - it takes
precedence, at some point, over peace in the “Holy Lands”.
Keep in mind that if the President had said he had heard from Napoleon, he would be under
medical care by this time. However instead, he hears from God and his poll ratings
go up. If the President truly had the courage of his convictions and faith, he would
do away with the CIA, foreign policy experts and any pretense of rational decision
making. He would just lay it on the line - God told him to attack Iraq and that
should be good enough for the American people.
And sadly enough, it just might be. [TOC]
LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR
Re: Bill Bennett:
6/11/03 I seem to get some morbid satisfaction when self-appointed moralists get caught
doing precisely what they preach against. The LONG list includes such stalwart
examples like Dr Laura, Jim & Tammy Faye, and Bob Barr. Bill Bennett is just the
most recent example. If this is not a concise defining example of hypocrisy, then I
need a new dictionary. Mike Rue via Internet
Response: Come to think of it, we could add Gingrich, Henry
Hyde, Bob Livingston, and a host of others! Even Pat Robertson is suspected of
having impregnated his second wife before the benefit of holy matrimony! What a
shock! G.D.
6/12/03 Well, in his "Book of Virtues" did he mention abstaining from gambling
or alcohol? If he did, he's then a hypocrite. If he didn't, then he probably
reserved some rationalized sins for himself. Possibly he should write a book of
acceptable vices, so his followers would have a guide as to just what they can and cannot
do. Kidding aside, behind each of these guys (generic), who knows what's best for
everyone else, is usually a whiny little creature who feels really sinful himself.
Note the Swaggerts and Bakers and the others like them. Actually, more than being a
hypocrite, Bennett is possibly just dumb. It must have taken a lot of effort to lose
$8mil. These Neo Cons -- throw the bums out! Leslie Wile,
Weston, CT via Internet.
Response: One of the things about the neo-cons - they seem
to be self-appointed, not elected. Bennett would probably make enough to replace his
losses with “The Bookie of Acceptable Vices.” G.D.
6/14/03 William Bennett is a hypocrite of the first magnitude a la the self-righteous
Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony and all their ideological descendants. His
behavior proves the point. Easy answers which are, in fact, only repackaged errors
from the past, are a special favorite of those who either cannot or will not bother to
face truths which frighten them. Fear as well as ignorance work against
reason.
Arrogance, of which Mr. Bennett and others who behave as he does, have in superabundance,
only further complicates matters, making genuine truthfulness a non-existent factor in
anything they say or write. Harvey Baylis, Queens, NY, via Internet
6/14/03 Bennett sounds like yet another example of "Do as I say, not as I
do." Time after time, those who arrogantly claim ownership of the moral high
ground are quick to condemn the same failings in others that they readily forgive within
themselves. Certainly the Catholic Church and the so-called "Religious
Right" are prime examples of this. Richard Schloss, M.D, East
Northport, NY via Internet.
Response: I guess Bennett's faith is simply not enough.
Instead of just believing, he has to really, really believe! G.D.
6/23/03 Of course he is. A common scold, despicable in his self-righteous
hypocrisy. His (lack of character) was obvious before any of these
revelations. T. Conway via Internet.
Response: Somehow the obvious seemed to escape mainstream
media for a long time! G.D.
Re: Iraq
6/25/03 Inspired by Paul Vitello's "Enough Said, Mr. Secretary" [Commentary,
June 10th in Newsday] is it too much to expect when Congress holds actual hearings on the
evidence President Bush had to invade Iraq that a Congress member would ask Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the following question: "Mr. Secretary: I understand your
statement about known knowns and known unknowns and unknown unknowns, but is it true lies
to the American people to justify a war are in the realm of unknown knowns derived from
known knowns and converted into unknown unknowns?" James Wentz, Freeport, via
Internet.
Response: Hey, isn't it true that the absence of evidence,
according to Rumsfeld, is evidence of the hiding of evidence? Don is just smarter
than the rest of us I guess. G.D.
Re: Uniformity of Opinion and Humanism:
7/6/03 [This] is no doubt one of the most comprehensive and succinct approach to this
dilemma. I applaud you for this piece of writing and hope you will let me make a few
copies for some of my Unitarian humanist friends. Paul via Internet.
Response: Thanks, and I think it is important to remind
fellow humanists occasionally of the free-thought aspects of humanism. G.D.
[TOC]
THE FILM HOLLYWOOD IS AFRAID TO MAKE:
Heart of the Beholder
Film producer targets freethinkers with
innovative web campaign.
(LOS ANGELES, May 28, 2003) Darlene Lieblich, a network television veteran and Chairman of
the Daytime Emmys, has launched a bold campaign to fund her independent feature film,
HEART of the BEHOLDER, which focuses on abuse by a fundamentalist religious group.
The film is based on the true story of a video store owner whose family was destroyed for
stocking Martin Scorsese's controversial film, The Last Temptation of Christ.
Lieblich's Beholder Productions today launched a web-based appeal to thousands of human
rights organizations and liberty-loving supporters in an effort to raise additional
funding to bring the $200,000 she currently has to a level where she can create a quality
film as well as make legitimate acting offers to star talent such as Elizabeth Taylor,
Kathy Bates, Whoopi Goldberg, James Spader, Dule Hill and his actress wife Nicole Lyn, and
shock-rocker Marilyn Manson.
Beholder Productions has designed an innovative plan to boost their production budget: A
registered sweepstakes in which participants will earn one E-Movie Ticket for every dollar
donated or spent on the pre-purchase of a Collector's Edition DVD or video gives
supporters the opportunity to win one of 12 featured extra roles and a luxury trip to
Universal Studios, Hollywood (no purchase necessary). Once the film is sold, it is
the producer's goal to give back to the grassroots supporters by donating an amount equal
to 100 percent of the production budget to organizations listed by supporters when they
enter the sweepstakes.
In another industry first, the producers have staged a global online talent search for
aspiring unknown singers, songwriters, and musicians to showcase their music.
Submissions are reviewed by the production team and those works that meet the film's needs
are posted on the website for evaluation by the general public. The producer will
negotiate contracts with music owners if their work is selected to be in the film and on
the soundtrack CD.
Noted Humanist and author, Susan Sackett, has put out the call for assistance.
"I've known Darlene Lieblich for over 25 years. We first met at Paramount
Studios when I was the executive assistant to Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry.
I've read HEART of the BEHOLDER and this is a riveting story that must be told. As
the President of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix, I'm challenging all FREETHINKERS
to support the making of HEART of the BEHOLDER.
HEART of the BEHOLDER is scheduled to start filming under the Screen Actors Guild low
budget signatory program in October 2003 in St. Louis, Austin, and at Universal Studios
Hollywood, with their goal to premiere at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
For further information, visit www.Beholder.com or contact: Media Contact: Tel:
818.268.1451 Email: Angela H. at pr1@beholder.com or Susan M. at pr2@beholder.com
(Note: LISH editor Gerry Dantone's musical compositions and his band, UniversalDice.com,
are under consideration for use in this movie. INQUIRER readers may judge the merits
of the tunes by Gerry Dantone & UniversalDice.com by voting in the survey at the
website
http://www.beholder.com/songwritershowcase.htm.)
[TOC]
DJ Grothe Supports “Beholder” DJ Grothe, Director of Campus
Programs for the Center for Inquiry and National Field Director for the Council for
Secular Humanism
HEART of the BEHOLDER (HOTB) is a Freethought film production, written and produced by
freethinkers and it stands a good chance to open up vast positive opportunities for
publicity about our humanist movement.
I support the funding of this film by freethinkers - 100%.
I recently had lunch at 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles where Producer Darlene
Lieblich and I discussed the difficulties in motivating humanists and other freethinkers
to rally together and financially support important projects. Such a task has often
been likened to "herding cats". But in this case, cat-herding is worth it:
it is a win/win situation for both the freethought community as well as for anyone that
contributes to this freethought movie.
Not only have I read the screenplay, but I am intimately knowledgeable about the story
because it took place in my home town of St. Louis and at the time (a decade ago), I was
involved in the religious fundamentalist movement there. In my opinion, this movie
has everything it needs to be an award winning film, from humor to suspense and drama, to
many unexpected twists and turns.
THIS MOVIE NEEDS TO BE MADE and I am sure that any supporter of this film will be
extremely proud of their participation.
I am personally supporting this project in every way I can. I ask that my fellow
freethinkers and humanists do the same and rally behind this project.
Share this information with all your freethinking friends -- bring a copy of this email to
your next Freethought or humanist meeting, and forward it along to others you think might
be interested.
When you pre-buy a Collectors Edition DVD or video, or make a donation, the money goes
straight into a trust account. If they don't reach their funding goal by August 31,
the money is returned. If they do reach their funding goal, the movie is made. When
the movie is sold, a donation will be made to your favorite non-profit charity in your
name for what you put into the project. You can pay by credit card, check or money
order: http://www.beholder.com/account.
The DVDs and videos cost $25 a piece which should not be a massive strain on anyone.
If you can't support the film by pre-buying a DVD or video, then a donation of ANY amount
should be made. You could even win a role in the film and a paid trip to
Hollywood. Details are at http://www.beholder.com/beastar.htm.
[TOC]
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SPECIAL
TREATMENT Paul Lozowsky
We police officers are men who have seen it and
done it many times. After a while, nothing seemed to bother us any more. Wars
now and in the past seem like such a waste of human life yet they still go on and
on. However, the still ongoing scandal of the CATHOLIC PEDOPHILE PRIESTS has exposed
the privileged position organized religion undeservedly retains in our time and it
concerns me greatly.
I will address this continuous violation of the laws in our country and the church
itself. I of course will also consider it with a policeman's point of view.
The Catholic Church's presumptive moral exemplars, violating the most vulnerable of
victims, children, and its misdeeds have not been met with the level of outrage and the
demand for action that would be expected if a secular body had been the perpetrator.
Think for a minute and think what action would have take place if it had been a school or
the police force or any other institution entrusted with the care of children that had
harbored child abusers, and that its high officials were fully aware of the crimes that
were frequently being perpetrated but protected those who committed the illegal acts by
shifting them from one location to another, leaving them free to continue their
predation. It would not have received the pass that the church enjoyed. It
certainly would not have been free to deal with the corruption itself.
We as policeman wonder how this sinful and illegal condition was allowed and hidden for so
many years. Just take a moment to think and reflect back; we know that we as police
would be the first in line to take criminal action if one of our kind attacked a child,
and continued to do it over and over.
The leaders of the church, Cardinal Law for one, who should have been criminally charged,
was allowed to retire, an accepted practice in the Catholic Church. The question is
“where were the secular and religious enforcers of our laws?” all this
time. The Church did their job paying off the victims the families and hiding the
priests.
The bishops did organize a conference in Rome basically internal affair. In effect,
Cardinal Law, and the bishops were effectively asking a foreign potentate - the Pope - if
it is “OK to obey the laws of the United States!”
There is already a system in place to deal with child rapists and those who shield them:
The criminal justice system. It shouldn't be necessary to point out that these
accused of criminal behavior the priests who should be above the norm in their relations
with children and society should be tried and if found guilty, JAILED.
[TOC]
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM VS. RELIGIOUS
PRIVILEGE Gerry Dantone
It is clear that almost no American truly understands religious freedom, the First
Amendment and justice. A recent flap over a Muslim woman's objection to having her
photo taken for a driver's license is but another case in point.
The woman, Sultaana Freeman, was denied a driver's license because of her refusal to take
a picture for the driver's license, claiming that this would violate her beliefs.
Well, Sammy Hagar, the rock and roll singer from the group Van Halen, once sang that he
couldn't “drive just 55” miles per hour; he had to go faster! It is clear
no exceptions were made for ONLY Mr. Hagar and his beliefs. He still only gets to
exceed 55 where it is legal.
Yet Ms. Freeman's case is not without a point: It is possible that the state of Florida
has made many exceptions over photos over the years but has clamped down on Ms. Freeman
because her excuse is based on a variant of Islam - a minority (read: non-Christian
mainstream) religion. It has not helped her case that she once claimed a religious
exemption in a child abuse case for which she eventually pleaded guilty.
The solution is so easy that no one can put their finger on it.
Florida should enforce its laws without exception, unless the exception applies to
everyone regardless of religious belief. If others have been excused on permanent
licenses, then pictures must not be all that important. Her reason is probably as
good as the next - at least it should not be dismissed because it is Islamic.
If NO exceptions have been made, then no picture, no license, regardless of ANY excuse.
Granting a purely religious excuse gives the religious a privilege that the non-religious
cannot be given, if equal treatment is a concern (it often is not!).
Those most vocal in objecting to Ms. Freeman's exception are right wingers (in concert
with many fundamentalists) who are not about to give Muslims a privilege that they do not
seek for themselves. Those defending her are civil libertarians who defend
minorities under almost all circumstances, justifiably or not.
Ms. Freeman should not be denied an exception when others receive it. She should not
be given one when others are denied it. The First Amendment calls for the
non-establishment of religion, not just the free exercise of religion. Obviously,
the Founding Fathers never intended for persons to opt out of any laws they choose on the
basis of religion - how many would claim an exemption for laws against rape and murder on
that basis? If one recalls, the Catholic clerics in Boston tried to claim they
believed that priests had an exemption from rape laws or at least the reporting of rape on
the basis of the First Amendment!
How much easier does it get? An exemption from a law should be equal opportunity;
not for persons of one religion, or all religions, but for all persons, period, or for
none at all.
Ultimately the Courts decided against Ms. Freeman. This is fine. One hopes
however that no one else receives an exemption where she did not.
[TOC]
MAKING THE ROUNDS WITH NORM
Norm Roscoe
June 27, LISH forum at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library: Two wonderful programs were
featured.
First we heard from Bill Baird; early pioneer in Women's reproductive choice. It
seems to me that Bill was ahead of his time. It took other groups maybe decades to
catch up to Mr. Baird. We also heard a courageous talk from Nancy Klein. From
her wheelchair she delivered her talk reflecting about the need for women to be able to
make their own decisions about reproductive choice without outside interference; she also
expressed her gratitude Bill Baird for his heroic and brave support in this area.
Too bad some of our current groups such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood took so long to
catch up. However Bill Baird still says that we can still support these groups but
maybe remind them of other earlier pioneers on their behalf.
Later that evening Deborah Rudacille the author of "Scalpel and the Butterfly"
made a heroic effort to display a balance between the need for animal research of behalf
of human medical progress while trying to minimize the negative impact on animal suffering
during these experiments. The history of this problem was explored and Ms.
Rudacille's effort to ride a middle way. Programs like this one keep us from quickly
jumping on one side of an issue until we hear a larger scope of the problem.
After getting good information we then hope to fine the best course of action recognizing
that our choices will not be "cut and dry". We have had great programs
here on Long island and I doubt if there is any better home for Humanism.
[TOC]
QUICKIES! Gerry
Dantone
Item: (Miami Herald) Camp Bushmaster, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where
the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an
oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water. It belongs to Army
chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage, which has kept thousands of
filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks, as an opportunity. ''It's simple. They
want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized,'' he said. And
agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and come up clean for the
first time in weeks. ''They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed,'' Llano
said.
Comment: I'm sure that Jewish, Catholic, non-Christian and
non-religious soldiers are particularly happy about being denied showers on the basis of
their religious beliefs - by an Army Chaplain! Yes, and we pay his salary so that he
can discriminate!
Item: (AU) After months of frequently heated debate, the U.S. Senate approved
“faith-based” legislation in April, 2003, that Americans United for Separation
of Church and State called a “significant improvement” over the legislation's
earlier versions.
In an April 8 letter to senators, Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn
thanked them for removing language from the bill, known as the “Charity, Aid,
Recovery, Empowerment Act of 2003” (or CARE Act) that would have exempted religious
charities from certain constitutional and civil rights safeguards
Comment: Even most pandering legislators realize the danger
of destroying the wall of separation of church and state. Of course, President Bush
is still not one of those who have come to this realization.
Item: (AU) U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige should repudiate his recent remarks
favoring Christianity in public schools and expressing hostility toward religious
diversity, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Paige, in an interview reported by the Baptist Press News Service on April 7, said,
“All things equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong
appreciation for the values of the Christian community, where a child is taught to have a
strong faith. Where a child is taught that, there is a source of strength greater than
themselves."
“The reason that Christian schools and Christian universities are growing is a result
of a strong value system," he said. "In a religious environment the value system
is set. That's not the case in a public school where there are so many different
kids with different kinds of values.”
Comment: What cave has Mr. Page been living in lately?
Has he heard about the scandal that has taken place so often in Catholics schools and
other programs? Not to mention similar scandals that plague other religious
institutions that are secretive and closed to outsiders!
Item: The American Society of Newspapers Editors has protested to Cuban President Fidel
Castro that Cuba's recent crackdown on independent journalists and dissidents is "a
crushing setback" to the country's growing openness and tolerance of dissent.
"We are especially disturbed by the current show trials staged to somehow legitimize
the imprisonment of the country's leading independent journalists," ASNE's leadership
wrote Castro. "These summary affairs ended quickly and predictably with trumped
up verdicts of guilt and harsh prison sentences. The process makes a mockery of Cuban
justice and due process."
The ASNE letter, signed by President Diane H. McFarlin and five other officials, urged
immediate amnesty for more than 28 independent journalists who were prosecuted.
"We also urge you to discard the politics of intolerance and accept the Cuban
people's desire for a free and independent press that allows the gathering and
dissemination of news outside the state-controlled media," it said.
At least 75 dissidents have undergone short trials and received heavy sentences on state
security charges.
Cuba's foreign minister said earlier this week that increased hostility from Washington
forced the country to protect itself from a U.S.-backed opposition working to undermine
the island's socialist system.
Comment: This crushing of Cuban dissent was timed to
coincide with the war in Iraq to avoid headlines. It proves once again the
tyrannical nature of Castro and his brand of communism. Apologists for Castro ought
to be ashamed.
Item: In a crackdown on what he considers serious abuses with the Church, in April 2003
the Pope warned divorced and remarried Catholics that receiving communion for them is
“unthinkable.”
Comment: We're glad the Pope is cracking down on
“serious abuses” at long last. I'm sure other “serious abuses”
such as condom use and reading books on the Vatican's banned list are also part of this
crackdown. There was no mention of a crackdown on those who opposed the church's
teaching that the Iraqi war was not a just war. Also, there was no mention of a
crackdown on those who covered up cases of child abuse. These issues must not be
serious enough!
Item: (NY Daily News) Senator Tom Daschle has been ordered by his bishop to stop calling
himself a Catholic. The Weekly Standard sent the senator a letter “directing
him to remove from his Congressional biography all references to his standing as a member
of the Catholic Church.” Sen. Daschle supports abortion rights.
Comment: I guess this means Sen. Daschle has no right to his
own opinion on what his religious beliefs are - the Church owns his opinion! Now the
Senator can join those he would prevent from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in a cozy
corner in hell.
Item: A Yemeni man with suspected Al-Qaida links told a court in Yemen that he killed 3
Christian missionaries to defend Islam, believing they were sterilizing Muslims and
converting them to Christianity. Abed Abdul Razak Kamel said, “I acted out of
religious duty… and in revenge from those who converted Muslims from their religion
and made them unbelievers.” He also said he coordinated the attack with Ali
al-Jarallah, another suspect accused of gunning down a Yemeni leftist politician.
“We agreed. He would kill the seculars, and I would target Christians,”
said Kamel.
Comment: This about sums up the “terrorist”
mentality. It's not about anything except religiously inspired hate and
chauvinism. There is no social justice issue (of which the US is guilty) attached to
their hatred.
Item: Lemrick Nelson has switched his story regarding the murder of rabbinical student
Yankel Rosenbaum several times since 1992. At first he claimed he was framed by
police and was acquitted. In 1997 he was convicted of violating Rosenbaum's civil
rights but that verdict was overturned on appeal due to a judge's active effort to
racially balance the jury. In his second civil rights trial, Lemrick's attorney's
are conceding that Nelson stabbed Rosenbaum, but that he did it because he was drunk, not
full of hate for Jews.
The NY Post reported that “as the tense hours mounted (waiting for a verdict),
Nelson's mother and a circle of female supporters launched into prayer, chanting,
"Jesus, be with us now!" while standing in a circle holding hands.”
Jimmy Breslin of Newsday reported more court praying by Nelson supporters:
"Oh, God," the woman in the courtroom first row cried out. "Oh,
Jesus, our Lord."
"Je-sus!"
She had on a blue jacket. She prayed with her head close to Lemrick Nelson's mother,
who wore an African dress with flashes of yellow.
A tall woman, Sheila Williams, stood and prayed with them.
"Oh, yes," she said.
"Good God!"
These loud prayers yesterday kept going and going and then suddenly, with a great
flourish, the woman standing up, Sheila Williams, called out: "And dear Lord, I now
am through standing and praying to you because: my feet hurt!"
The woman who did the praying was asked the name of her church. "Church of
God."
"Where is it?"
"Right here." She pointed to the floor. "This is the church of
God."
"Yes, it is," Nelson's mother said.
Ultimately Nelson was found guilty of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights but not
responsible for causing his death, leaving him to serve only 6 months to one year more in
jail as opposed to a life sentence.
Upon hearing the verdict Nelson smiled and waved to his family. Outside court, his
mother said the verdict was fair, and “I also ask God to forgive them (the Rosenbaum
family) for how they feel about me and my family.”
Comment: Is there any way to prosecute attorneys who may have knowingly offered false
claims that their client did not murder Rosenbaum? Is there anything more cynical
than this line of defense?
And of course, did God answer the prayers of Lemrick Nelson's family and allow him to
escape a life sentence? After all, if there ever was a miracle, this verdict fits
the bill. God works in mysterious ways. [TOC]
THE WEATHERS REPORT: It Had to be Said:
Religion Is a Dangerous Thing - The Empty Box Ed Weathers
(Let me start with my own disclaimer: The following views are mine and mine alone, and do
not necessarily reflect the views of The Memphis Flyer or anyone else associated with The
Memphis Flyer: E.W.)
Religion is the root of much evil.
It has to be said.
Here is what I believe: There is no god, there is no messiah, there are no prophets
plugged in to some divine will. There are no saints or holy men.
If there is a heaven or a hell or any other kind of afterlife, we can't know anything
about it while we're in this life, so it's useless to speculate and foolish to
believe. Faith is an empty box. To believe in Christ is to believe in a
rabbit's foot. To believe in the Buddha is to believe that pro wrestling is
real. To believe in Mohammed is to believe that the groundhog can predict spring. To
believe that the Ten Commandments came from some god on a mountaintop is to believe that
television psychics can talk to your dead grandmother. Allah, Jehovah and the Trinity are
elves and Tinkerbells. They are no more than desperate hope given a name and
anthropomorphic shape by the imaginations of frightened men.
It has to be said.
Religion is superstition. It is mankind crossing its fingers. Its sole functions are
1) to comfort and console those who cannot bear the suffering and death that are
ultimately the lot of every human being, and 2) to offer meaning in a world where meaning
can never be established. Religion, in other words, is a fortress of lies built to
keep out the terrors of existence and nonexistence. For those in power, it is useful
in still another way: Since time immemorial, the powerful have used religion to distract
the oppressed, to encourage them to focus on the next world so that they will acquiesce to
the injustices of this world. If you would have your slaves remain docile, teach
them hymns.
This is not saying anything new, but it has to be said again.
On balance, religion has made the world a worse place. It has generated magnificent
art and wonderful music and spectacular architecture, and millions of people have, over
the centuries, done good and beautiful things in its name, but on balance it has not been
good for the world. Those millions of good people would have done just as much good
without it. Mother Teresa would have been saintly without the New Testament.
Martin Luther King would have been a paragon of eloquent courage without having been
baptized. Gandhi would have overturned an empire leaning only on his walking
stick. Virtue would exist without Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Hinduism,
which, in their vanity and vaporishness, are no different from the Roman's belief in
household gods or the Druid's belief in tree spirits. A magic act is a magic act,
whatever robes we clothe it in. But because of religions like these, the world has
experienced centuries and centuries of backwardness and unnecessary suffering.
Throats have been slit in their name, hearts exploded, the best minds distracted or
destroyed, sweet people tortured, millions of children sent horribly to oblivion.
It has to be said.
Today is a good day to say it. Perhaps the worst of religion's dangerous superstitions is
the notion of the “holy” place. The idea that this patch of earth or that
building or that city or nation is somehow sanctified by some god has left us with the
bombs and guns and bodies of Kashmir and Belfast, of Baghdad and Jerusalem.
“Next year in Jerusalem.” Oh, the lives such words have cost! Why not
“Next year in Memphis” or “Next year in Singapore” or “Next year
on the banks of the Platte”? What is land but land? What is a building but a
building?
Today is a good day to say it because we have a praying president convinced that he is
plugged in to the will of God, and his conviction is leading the United States to holy
war, first in Iraq and later... wherever his prayers might take us. The Muslim world
is right: George W. Bush is on a Crusade. He believes that God is on his side, just as
Osama bin Laden believes that God is on his side, and the PLO thinks God is on their side,
and the Irish Republican Army is certain God is on their side. The list of those who have
made war in the name of their god is too long even to start here.
Today is a good day to say it because Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is convinced,
as he said last week, that the United States is a country with God's special blessing, and
Attorney General John Ashcroft thinks his views on abortion and the Bill of Rights come
straight from the mind of his right-wing Christian god.
Our leaders say they want to make the world safe for secular democracy. I wish they meant
it. But I'm afraid that what they really mean is that they want to make a world receptive
to their Western god.
There are wars enough when what is “holy” is not part of the picture.
Communism and fascism and capitalism would have had their wars even with all gods standing
on the sidelines. There are land wars and economic wars and grudge wars and wars for
no reason that anyone can understand at all. But religious wars are the most tragic,
because they are built so deeply on a deluded sense of righteousness.
Have nonbelievers started wars? Of course! They have started wars for land or
politics or pure villainy. But I don't know of a single nonbeliever who has killed simply
to make others stop believing. (Stalin, you would say? No, he killed for
power.) On the other hand, the world has thousands, millions, who will kill, and
have killed, in order to make someone else believe as they believe.
You won't read this in The New York Times, but it has to be said: Religion does more harm
than good. I wish George W. Bush and his handlers would stop talking to, or about, their
god. I wish the Near and Middle East would suddenly be flooded by a sea of atheism. I wish
Northern Ireland would overnight experience mass religious amnesia. How much more at peace
the world would be.
A man truly awake does not need religion. He doesn't need gods. He doesn't
need miracles. He doesn't need holy lands here below or celestial heavens up above.
For him, life in this universe is itself holy, as is every patch of ground and every path
he walks. Life itself is enough of a miracle. To believe in a god who made this life
is to believe in a miracle even greater than this miracle. Who needs more than one
unfathomable miracle? Existence is a fluke, a freak, a wonder, a dream, a bizarre uncanny
thing. Our own consciousness of this existence is so incredible a phenomenon that I
don't understand why anyone feels the need to believe in anything else more
“spiritual.” It's all spiritual. It's all true magic. Why add imagined
magic to explain the magic that is right before us?
Religion is dangerous. It needs to be said, and no one is saying it, except on the
nonbelievers' web sites and in their magazines, where they speak only to each other.
Our politicians won't say it. Our commentators won't say it. The power of
self-censorship in this God-fearing country is too strong, freedom of speech be
damned. I can say it here only because this audience is so small, and I have little
to risk. (Will fifty of you read this? Will 500? I have no business you can
boycott. I have no office you can vote me out of. All I can lose is my job.)
Nearly all my friends are believers. Nearly all of those I love are believers. Most
of them are generous and kind, and their religion gives them hope and comfort and pleasant
society. Last night, I went to a Passover Seder at the home of Jewish friends.
They are wonderful people. It was a lovely evening. My own widowed mother has
been sustained since my father's death by the amazing kindness of the women in her
church. Yes, I have seen many good works born in synagogues and church pews.
But the nonbelievers I know are just as kind, just as loving, just as hopeful, and they
have given just as much comfort to those in need.
And I too hope. I hope, for example, that I will see my dead father and my dead
friends in some next life, and that we will all be free from worry and pain forever.
But it's just hope, and it's awake and open-eyed. It's not faith, which is sleepy
and blind. I don't depend on my hope, and I wouldn't base my living actions on it.
It's a hope that does not grow out of dogma, and I would never try to impose my hope on
someone else. Pure hope never yet has led to war. The same cannot be said of
dogma. If I were to found a religion, I would call it “The Church of the
Hopeful Few.” Hope would be its only doctrine, and I think it would be a
peaceful church.
I know it does little good to tell believers that they should stop believing. I
don't really care if they believe, as long as they remain in their closets when they pray,
and leave their gods there when they emerge. Their self-delusion saddens me a bit,
but it is usually harmless. When it does harm is when it drives them against the
self-delusion of those who believe otherwise. Then is the time of enmity and war.
If our leaders must believe, then, let them believe. But let them remember that the
White House is not a cathedral, and that the capitol building is a place of men, not gods.
(Ed Weathers can be reached @ edweathers@peoplepc.com)
Reprinted with permission from the website of the Memphis Flyer (http://www.memphisflyer.com/onthefly/ontheflynew.asp?ID=2277)
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AMERICANS GRANTED PRIVACY
Gerry Dantone
From the Washington Post: The Supreme Court struck down Texas's ban on private consensual
sex between adults of the same sex, in a landmark ruling that enshrined for the first time
a broad constitutional right to sexual privacy.
A five-justice majority of the court ruled that the state intruded on the "liberty of
the person both in its spatial and more transcendent dimensions."
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Clarence
Thomas, voted to uphold the Texas statute…
Reading his dissent from the bench, a signal of particularly strong disagreement, Scalia
said that the ruling "effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation,"
and would pave the way for "judicial imposition of homosexual marriage, as has
recently occurred in Canada."
The case is Lawrence v. Texas, No. 02-102, for the text of the decision go to:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/26jun20031200/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/02pdf/02-102.pdf.
The split in the Supreme Court is telling. Those justices, Scalia, Thomas and
Rehnquist, who voted to retain the Texas law maintain that there is no explicit right to
privacy in the Constitution, despite the 4th Amendment's saying, “The right of the
people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
If laws about consenting sex between adults do not result in a violation of a one's
personal security, what does? What could be more insecure to an individual than the
government having the right to regulate one's personal sexuality? What would be
un-Constitutional?
The rationale used by Scalia is a smokescreen: His real motivation is a desire to see his
absolute moral code be the law of the land, the Constitution be damned. It is not a
coincidence that every decision on his part is tainted by his adherence to a particular
ideology, and he will contradict himself without remorse as long as his dogma prevails.
Scalia is the justice that President Bush sees as a model for future selections - a judge
who believes the government can arrest and imprison Americans for what Scalia considers
deviant sex, or any other personal activity, such as biting your fingernails, or petting
your dog. Truly, he would sustain laws that criminalized such activities if it
conflicted with his religious beliefs! He says we have “no right to
privacy.” In other words, we have no rights worth anything.
The elections are in 2004.
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GOOD GOD! ID JUST WON'T GO AWAY!
Barry Loberfeld
"ID," of course, being intelligent
design, the creationist concept that nowadays seems to be leaping out at me from
everything I watch, listen to and read. An example of the last is the April 14,
2003, New York Times review of "Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics:
Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives" (ed. Robert T.Pennock, MIT
Press). Near its end, the piece (by Jim Holt, who "writes a column about
philosophy and science for Slate.com") attempts to refute ID with the counter-concept
of "not intelligent design."
To quote at length: If nature were fashioned by a hands-on Divine Artificer, it ought to
exhibit a certain elegance and efficiency. Then what of all the imperfections we see
in the biological world? Why are organisms burdened with ill-adaptive features like
the webbed feet of the frigate bird, which does not need them for paddling? Why is
our genome littered with nonfunctional junk DNA? Why have 99.99 percent of the
species that have ever existed gone extinct including the poor dinosaurs, created only to
be wiped out by an errant asteroid? As [Stephen Jay] Gould remarks, "Odd
arrangements and funny solutions are the proof of evolution --paths that a sensible God
would never tread but that a natural process, constrained by history, follows
perforce."
Ironically, whether it is the result of Divine direction or human action, a creationist
rebuttal has come along in the form of Cornelius G. Hunter's "Darwin's God: Evolution
and the Problem of Evil" (Brazos Press). A cover blurb by Michael Behe (!) ably
summarizes the book's thesis "that the main supporting pole of the Darwinian tent has
always been a theological assertion: 'God wouldn't have done it that way.' Rather
than demonstrating that evolution is capable of the wonders they attribute to it,
Darwinists rely on a man-made version of God to argue that He never would have made life
with the particular suite of features we observe." In other words, if the
frigate bird has weird feet, it means only that THAT (for whatever reason.) is the
design. Those feet no more disprove the existence of a Creator than the Mona Lisa's
queer smile disproves the existence of a painter.
Hunter he is "currently completing a Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of
Illinois" --may very well have been aiming at "not intelligent design," but
his argument backfires fatally. It is nothing less than a total obliteration of the
concept of "design." The standard form of the challenge -- If you were
walking along a beach “and you found a watch in the sand, yada, yada,
yada”… drew its rhetorical force from the distinction between the man-made
watch and the naturally-produced sand. But if now both the watch and the sand; the
efficient and the inefficient, the complex and the simple, the human brain and the cell
--evince "design," then just what the heck does that term MEAN? What could
possibly constitute NON-design? Mr. Hunter has made "Intelligent Design"
worse than non-falsifiable -- it is now inescapably indefinable.
As scientists know, not all changes in a species further its evolution. This most
recent development of creationism is a maladaptive mutation that cannot help but lead to
extinction.
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FROM: Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, The
God Squad & Other Theists: Stonewalling Atheists: Carl
Silverman, director
(Editor's note: Ever since the infamous God Squad column in which the God Squad, Father
Hartman and Rabbi Gelmna, claimed that atheists have no reason to be good or even live,
non-believers have tried to receive a retraction or even an acknowledgement of the
slight. So far, no dice!
The Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, Inc. decided to protest a God Squad appearance at a
synagogue in their neck of the woods and the following are excerpts of a letter they wrote
to the temple and a bit of their report to LISH.)
Date: May 7, 2003
Rabbi Allan S. Meyerowitz
Beth El Temple
2637 N. Front Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110
Subject: "God Squad" Appearance at Beth El Temple
Dear Rabbi Meyerowitz:
Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, Inc. represents atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and
humanists throughout Central Pennsylvania and beyond, many of whom are of Judaic or
Catholic heritage.
Two years ago, a member of the notorious World Church of the Creator infiltrated one of
our monthly meetings at the Martin Library in York. Claiming to be an atheist, he
soon started spouting his racist and anti-Semitic views. We immediately asked him to
leave the meeting. That organization then petitioned to use the library for a
gathering of its own. As a result of the civil unrest during that gathering, the
library changed its meeting rules, effectively shutting us out of our traditional meeting
place. Fortunately, the local Unitarian congregation now welcomes our
meetings. So, while we may disagree with the Jewish community on religious issues,
we share the concern for the separation of church and state, and we have no tolerance for
hatred of a class of people based on their race, ethnicity, or personal religious
perspective.
We are writing to you today to express our concern about your upcoming fundraising event
on May 15 featuring syndicated "God Squad" columnists Msgr. Thomas Hartman and
Rabbi Marc Gellman.
In late August 2002, the Patriot-News and other papers nationwide published a "God
Squad" column in which a parent expressed concern about the religious orientation of
her son, Sean. The columnists responded, "be glad that Sean is only an agnostic
and not yet an atheist."
We ask you to reflect on how you and your congregation would have felt if the columnists
had said, "Be glad that Sean is only Muslim and not Jewish," or, "Be glad
that Sean is only a reform Jew and not a conservative one."
Later in the same column, they got even nastier, insinuating that atheists have "no
reason to get out of bed in the morning and no reason to believe that life has an edge
over death, hope an edge over despair and love an edge over hate."
Even as recently as this past week, the "God Squad" continued their smear
campaign, telling a reader that her husband's decreased religiosity "doesn't mean
he's become a flaming atheist."
Suppose they had said that her husband's careful spending "doesn't mean he's become a
flaming Jew"? How would you have responded to that? Would you have still
invited them to headline a fundraiser at your synagogue?
Organizations of nonbelievers in the New York area criticized the "God Squad's"
comments last year, but received no response from the columnists. One such
organization reports:
"When they published their column noting that atheists have no reason to be good,
[the leader of a local Humanist Society] wrote them a letter asking them how they could
write such a column when they know him and the good work of their group. This
society is very active on Long Island in many charitable causes. The God Squad both
knew him personally for many years as he was a leader on Long Island for decades!
They've appeared together at many functions. They never acknowledged his
letter. When he finally met with Father Hartman personally, Hartman simply said that
he wrote what 'the' wanted him to say."
While we support free speech and a free press, we hope you would agree that religious
stereotyping by prominent members of the media must not go unchallenged. We would
ask you to help fight the same kind of defamation that the Jewish people have been targets
of throughout history by not providing the God Squad with a venue for their bigotry in
your Synagogue. If you wish to discuss this further with us, please feel free to
contact our Capital Area Director, Carl Silverman.
Sincerely, PENNSYLVANIA NONBELIEVERS, INC., Steven Neubauer, President; Carl Huber,
Recording Secretary; Carl Silverman, Capital Area Director.
(Carl Silverman continues) This letter was faxed but never got a response. When I
finally reached someone at the synagogue he told me that the Rabbi might not have gotten
the fax, I emailed it, and cc'd it to many people, including the Philadelphia office of
the Anti-Defamation League. The rabbi tried to contact me last night, but couldn't
get through, so he told me to call today. Here's the rest of the story:
To give you an idea of his attitude, when I said that I was sorry that he wasn't in the
country when we faxed the letter to him last week, he replied, "I'm not sorry, I was
in Israel!" Anyway, he disclaimed responsibility for inviting the God Squad,
saying that not only was he out of the country, but that he was leaving the synagogue in
August. (I learned that his contract was not renewed.) He passed the
buck to the chair of the event, but suggested that I attend the event and confront
them. I told him that I wasn't going spend a dime (tickets are $25) if any of it
went into the pockets of bigots.
(I had spoken with the Executive Director of the synagogue who not only passed the buck to
the Rabbi, but commented that personally he was in favor of free speech and didn't think
that the God Squad's comments could be equated with anti-Semitic comments.)
Ironically, my wife used to work with the chairperson -- at a local Catholic
hospital! But I had never personally met her. I finally touched base with her
(by phone) this afternoon as she arrived at the synagogue for tonight's event. Our
letter to the Rabbi was news to her. She also either said or implied that she was
unaware of the God Squad's anti-atheist comments (but I don't believe that, especially the
column printed two weeks ago). She said that the God Squad was invited to address
"Interfaith Harmony". I asked her if she included atheists in that
"harmonious" population and she said, yes, "everyone". But when
I asked how she could reconcile that with the God Squad's statements, she didn't have an
answer. She said she was concerned with selling artwork at this event (and
throughout the weekend) to raise money for Israel.
I told her that I was giving her fair warning that this WILL become a public issue.
I am going to prepare a letter to the editor of the Patriot News.
Based on this experience, let me just say that I personally am prouder than ever to be
identified as an atheist, and more ashamed than ever to acknowledge that I am of Judaic
heritage.
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THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION: CAUGHT IN IT
OWN WEB OF LIES? Gerry Dantone
“There is no observational fact imaginable
which cannot, one way or another, be made to fit the creation model.”
Henry Morris, President of the Institute for Creation Research
The more we know about the Bush administration, the more we know that we knew all
along. Indeed, President Bush is a man of faith as advertised, and as we feared; he
obviously is not a man of scientific inquiry, reason and logic. Like the
Creationists, Bush and his team can make any fact fit pre-conceived, and
religiously-derived notions.
It has been admitted by the Bush administration that the “Saddam uranium
reference” in his State of the Union speech was unverified. In July, CIA
Director George Tenet claimed responsibility for this 16 word statement making it to the
speech. Though technically accurate since the reference only claimed that British
intelligence suggested that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy weapons grade ore, the CIA
did not have any confidence in this British report. The language in Bush's speech
was deliberately and misleadingly crafted to only claim that Britain had made the
claim. However the effect was to imply to the millions of Americans watching was
that Hussein was indeed seeking to build a bomb RIGHT NOW, and that the threat was
imminent, even though the CIA was unconvinced of this. As we all know, war soon
followed, with many citing the horrific threat that Iraq posed as the principle reason for
the war. Opponents of the war remained unconvinced by the
“evidence.” As it turned out, Iraq posed almost no threat to the US.
Al Qaeda and N. Korea remain the greatest threats to the US.
Briefly, here is the background to this situation, as found in mainstream media: From the
NY Times, Sunday, July 13, 2003: Senior administration officials familiar with the writing
of (Bush's State of the Union) speech said today that Mr. Tenet never read the draft
section that dealt with the uranium before Mr. Bush delivered it in late January.
However, the officials said, Mr. Tenet personally spoke with Stephen J. Hadley, the deputy
(to Ms. Condoleeza Rice) national security advisor, in early October to warn against
having Mr. Bush declare, in a speech about the Iraqi threat, that Saddam was trying to buy
550 tons of uranium ore in the African nation of Niger. The reference was omitted
when Mr. Bush gave the speech on Oct. 7.
At first blush, one must then wonder what Mr. Tenet is taking responsibility for! He
warned against this reference, did not read the speech in question, and indeed Colin
Powell saw fit NOT to use the reference in any of his speeches.
From Maureen Dowd, NY Times, 7/13/03: “It was Ms. Rice's responsibility to vet the
intelligence facts in the president's speech and take note of the red alert the tentative
Tenet was raising. Colin Powell did when he set up camp at the C.I.A. for a week
before his U.N. speech, double-checking what he considered unsubstantiated charges that
the Cheney chief of staff, Scooter Libby, and other hawks wanted to sluice into his
talk. When the president attributed the information about Iraq trying to get Niger
yellowcake to British intelligence, it was a Clintonian bit of flim-flam. Americans
did not know what top Bush officials knew: That this "evidence" could not be
attributed to American intelligence because the C.I.A. had already debunked it.
Ms. Rice did not throw out the line, even though the C.I.A. had warned her office that it
was sketchy. Clearly, a higher power wanted it in. And that had to be Dick
Cheney's office. Joseph Wilson, former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, said he was asked to go
to Niger to answer some questions from the vice president's office about that episode and
reported back that it was highly doubtful.”
It was Mr. Wilson who broke the story by going public. Since then, his wife, a CIA
agent has been “outed,” possibly endangering lives, as retribution.
The fingers obviously are pointing at Stephen Hadley, Condoleeza Rice, Libby and Dick
Cheney. CIA Director Tenet is obviously taking one for his bosses. This
obviously is not going to work.
Even the Iraqi War-supportive Washington Post has damning info that casts doubts on
Tenet's “apology.” It reported, “The CIA tried unsuccessfully in
early September 2002 to persuade the British government to drop from an official
intelligence paper a reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa that President
Bush included in his State of the Union address four months later, senior Bush
administration officials said yesterday. 'We consulted about the paper and
recommended against using that material, 'a senior administration official familiar with
the intelligence program said."
The CIA was making its opinion known to anyone who would listen! How are we to
believe that it was CIA Director Tenet's fault that this material wound up in the
President's State of the Union speech? The CIA was never a champion of this
material.
What about President Bush? What did he know and when did he know it? The
answer may be that Bush was ignorant and uninterested in details. Supporting
evidence may be contained in his statement to Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas, as
reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz; Bush told Abbas that he attacked Iraq because God
“told” him to do so. When God talks, Bush listens!
It is also evident that Bush has a poor grasp of the facts, a trait that recalls the
Alzheimer-impaired President Reagan. Bush told Polish journalists that WMDs (two
empty trailers!) had been “found” just as a new team was being sent to Iraq to
find the missing WMDs. Further, Bush told reporters on July 14, 2003, that, at the
time of the speech, the controversial comment was relevant while at the same time Press
Secretary Ari Fleischer was declaring the misleading assertion in the speech was
peripheral to the case for war. Bush also argued that July day that “we gave
(Hussein) a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And
therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from
power…” As almost everyone else seems to know, the inspectors were in the
process of inspecting in March 2003 when they were forced to flee in advance of the
American attack. The argument the US made then was that inspections were
non-productive, not that they were non-existent.
For those who objected to pursuing war against Iraq at the time that Bush ordered the
attack, it was the very absence of evidence of WMDs, a nuclear program, and an Al Qaeda
link that led many objectors to their positions. Not all of those who opposed the
pre-emptive attacks on Iraq were supposed “pacifists” - most were persons
unconvinced by the “evidence” presented and opposed to a policy of pre-emption
when imminent danger could not be demonstrated. Yes, the argument of Hussein's
criminality has never been in doubt - however, this has not been in doubt for over 25
years during numerous Republican administrations or during the last Presidential election
when candidate Bush never informed the nation of the need for the US to
“liberate” the Iraqi people.
It has been written in this newsletter that too often our soldiers have been sent to wars
where the facts, goals and motivations were obscure or hidden. If there is anything
a Commander-in Chief should be, it's being honest about war and peace (and sex for the
morally pure). If anything rises to the level of a “high crime and
misdemeanor,” it would be a lie to Americans about a war's justification. Ms.
Rice, and Mr. Tenet, Mr. Hadley and Mr. Cheney should be made to answer some very tough
questions.
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TRANSCRIPTS!
We now have a number of transcripts available of LISH forums at
the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library and other locations.
Among the available transcripts are “Darwin, the Other Great Emancipator” by
Elof Carlson; “Don't You Believe in Anything?” by Ron Barrier; “Darwin
Before the Penny Dropped,” by Hugh Rance; “Misconceptions on Evolution and
Creationism” by Kieran McNulty; “What Is Separation of Church and State?”,
“Media Infidels” “Why We Need a Humanist Coalition on Long Island,”
“The Ten Commandments in Public Facilities,” “James Madison and
Separation,” “Why Be Good?” and “Science and Creationism,” by
Gerry Dantone.
Blood Drive Successful
The Monday, June 16th Blood Drive at the
Ethical Humanist Society in Garden City was a success with over 35 persons donating at
this time of a critical shortage in supplies. Due to the West Nile virus and other
blood infections, donors are being carefully screened, contributing to the shortage.
Suggested by musician Dan Tobin to Gerry Dantone of LISH, Richard Rapp of the Ethical
Humanist Society made the arrangements and it was all worth it. Another Blood Drive
is planned for later this year and hopefully an even larger turnout will be generated.
LISH Email Action Info!
To encourage LISH member letters to the editor,
here are email addresses of local print media: Daily News, voicers@edit.nydailynews.com;
NY Magazine, NYLetters@primediamags.com; NY Post, letters@nypost.com; NY Press,
mugger@nypress.com; NY Times, letters@nytimes.com; New Yorker, themail@newyorker.com;
Newsday, letters@newsday.com; USA Today, editor@usatoday.com; Village Voice,
editor@villagevoice.com; Wall Street Journal, editors@interactive.wsj.com.
LISH members ONLY can email LISecHum@aol.com to request a copy.
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Become a Member of LISH
Membership in LISH has its benefits!
Membership entitles one to: use of the LISH Freethought library; voting rights; mailed
newsletters; invitations to non-public functions, dinners, and perhaps movies and plays as
well!
Let us grow into the humanist voice of Long Island! Only $40 for membership for one
year, $5 more for each extra family member who seeks voting rights, or $12 per year for
the newsletter only. Send a check with your name, address and phone number, to LISH,
Box 119, Greenlawn, NY 11740.
All articles in this newsletter may be reprinted by organizations affiliated with the
Council for Secular Humanism, American Atheists or the American Humanist Association, with
a reciprocating reprinting agreement with LISH, so long as the article is used in full and
with complete crediting. Edited versions can be used with written permission.
TIME TO GROW SOS!
Recent NY State court decisions have created an
extraordinary opportunity for SOS to grow in New York State. Secular Organizations
for Sobriety (SOS) must move now to create an infrastructure to enable it to expand and
meet the demand created by these decisions.
In Stefano v. Emergency Housing Group, the court ruled that no government-funded social
service bureau or other agency in NYS can require clients to attend AA meetings due to
their religious nature. Overnight, the only way NY treatment centers could hang onto
their AA groups at all was by having SOS groups right down the hall as a secular
alternative! New York can be the first state where SOS stands on equal legal footing
with AA. Unlike AA, SOS is appropriate for all persons regarding beliefs or
non-beliefs. The priority is sobriety not piety at SOS.
The Council for Secular Humanism is requesting donations specifically for SOS programs
administration.
Send your donations to: CSH, PO Box 664, Amherst, NY 114226, and note that the gift is for
SOS - NY.
SOS (Secular Organizations for Sobriety/Save Our Selves), a support organization for
people recovering from alcohol and drug abuse, will be adding a new local group.
Planning meetings will be held Wednesday nights, June 18th & 25th 2003, at 7:30 P.M.
at, 280 Suburban Avenue, #F, Deer Park, Suffolk County, NY. Open to all persons who
need sobriety in their life. For info about this planning meeting or directions,
contact Drew @ 631 242 2498.
The home page of SOS is http://www.secularsobriety.org.
This web site has much information for downloading on running SOS groups.
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Book Discussion Club!
If you are interested write Bill Wadewrite to
him @ Box 631, Southold, NY, 11971 or email wiwade@suffolk.lib.ny.us.
All meetings are at 8 PM unless otherwise noted.
Date: 12 September 2003 Place: Sherman Carll's house, Commack, NY. Book: Antonio R.
Damasio, "Looking For Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and The Feeling Brain."
Date: 10 October 2003, Place: Mary Jane Marrifield & Warren Rothstein's house,
Patchogue, NY, waremmy@optonline.net. Book: Eric Schlosser, "Fast Food
Nation."
Date: 14 November 2003, Place: Bill Mohrman's house, Massapequa, NY, skeptic1@optonline.net. Book: Norma Khouri,
"Honor Lost: Love and Death in Modern-Day Jordan.”
Date: 12 December 2003, Place: Charlotte Herrmann's house, Amityville, NY, OMIcharlotte@aol.com. Book: Eric Alterman,
"What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News."
Date: 9 January 2004, Place: Norm Roscoe's house, P.O. Box 451, Oakdale, NY, normRhum@aol.com. Book: Kurt Vonnegut,
"Player Piano."
Date: 13 February 2004, Place: To be determined. Book: Richard Ellis, "The
Empty Ocean: Plundering the World's Marine Life."
Date: 12 March 2004, Place: To be determined. Book: Jon Entine, "Taboo: Why
Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid To Talk About It."
Date: 9 April 2004, Place: To be determined. Book: Michael Moore, "Stupid White
Men : -- And Other Sorry Excuses For The State Of The Nation!"
Date: 14 May 2004, Place: To be determined. Book: Patricia Daniels Cornwell,
"Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper Case Closed."
Date: 11 June 2004, Place: To be determined. Book: Jared Diamond, "Guns,
Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human
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Be Sure to Watch
"Humanist Perspective" hosted by Joe Beck, on Cablevision Public Access, can be
seen Wednesdays @ 7PM PM on Channel 20 on the Woodbury, Hauppauge and Brookhaven systems.
LISH ON CABLE!
“Long Island Secular Humanists: What is Secular Humanism?”
This is a LISH one-hour self-produced show and will be shown on the Woodbury Cablevision
system, @ 7PM Mondays and on the Hauppauge & Brookhaven Cablevision systems, Tuesdays
@ 7:00 PM, on Channel 20.
New show from American Atheists!
Atheist Viewpoint
Featuring Ellen Johnson and Ron Barrier, it will be seen Tuesdays @ 7PM on the Woodbury
system and Mondays on the Hauppauge and Brookhaven systems @ 7PM, on Channel 20.